Jessica Quentin and her fellow MTA mech pilots slowly came to enjoy their time with the Larkinson Clan.
Even though the 5-year assignment placed them away from their friends, their family, as well as the privileges and services they enjoyed in MTA territory, the separation had ultimately done them a lot of good.
Life had been a bit too easy back when they served in regular MTA units. They always enjoyed the protection of one of the most powerful organizations in the galaxy. This not only meant that they had few actual enemies to fight, it also affected their psychology in a detrimental fashion.
One of the dirty secrets of the MTA was that one of the actual reasons why it was willing to recruit outsiders was because too few internal members broke through to expert pilot and beyond.